Bishop Stortford 0 Stalybridge Celtic 3

Celtic's first trip to Woodside Park resulted in an easy win, and had it not been for some baffling decisions by an assistant referee, then this could have been a report on their biggest away win for years. Connor Jennings had the ball in the net four times, but three of his efforts were chalked off for quite mystifying offsides.

Celtic's first trip to Woodside Park resulted in an easy win, and had it not been for some baffling decisions by an assistant referee, then this could have been a report on their biggest away win for years.

Connor Jennings had the ball in the net four times, but three of his efforts were chalked off for quite mystifying offsides.

In truth two of them weren’t even borderline and despite cruising to the three points the major talking point afterwards was the performance of the flag-waver.

The Celts netted their first legitimate effort after 14 minutes, and even though the finish was a deflection off Lloyd Ellams – who got in the way of Mo Habu’s attempted clearance – the build-up was a tempting glimpse of what Jim Harvey’s men are capable of.

The second came three minutes before the break when Jennings, looking no more offside than at any point in the game, conjured up a delightful lob from the edge of the box.

Bishop’s Stortford huffed and puffed but never really troubled the Celtic rearguard all afternoon, and the almost inevitable third goal came in unusual circumstances.

Leicester official Steve Ross looked to have played advantage after a foul on Marsh but changed his mind and blew for the free kick just as Ellams’ sublime finish flashed past Nicky Eyre into the top corner.

Marsh was quite rightly aggrieved but righted the wrong when he struck a simply stunning free kick past a statuesque Eyre from the edge of the ‘D’.

There was still time for Craig to pick up a straight red for a nasty foul on Jack Rea and the most ridiculous decision of the afternoon when Jennings’ effort was flagged away despite the striker running past three defenders to meet a free kick.